Know-Nothings on the March

The G20 summit will take place in London next week; it has been the occasion for left-wing demonstrations across Europe. The demonstrators are a motley crew, including Communists, trade unionists, environmentalists, anarchists and miscellaneous others. The radicalism of these groups was on display, with free enterprise the most consistent target. These two are from London:

“We won’t pay for their crisis” was a common theme. Actually, I doubt that many of these demonstrators pay significant taxes, so they could well be right. This one, celebrating the alleged death of capitalism, is from the demonstration in Berlin:

It’s remarkable that every time there is a downturn in the economy, these Luddites want to establish socialism. They are not exactly students of history.

I like this message: “We’re all doomed. It’s already too late.” I’m not sure whether that’s a climate reference, or general pessimism. Note too the professionally-printed anti-Israel, anti-war placards, paid for I assume by a radical Muslim group, that always find a place at these rallies:

These flyers are from London–“Storm the banks!” These people are always yearning for the good old days:

“I would hope that the protesters give us a chance, listen to what we have to say and hopefully we can make it clear to them that we’re going to walk away from this G20 meeting with some concrete proposals,” Biden said at a news conference after a meeting of center-left politicians in Chile.

“Give us a chance”? To do what? Smash the capitalist state? Skeptical as I am of Biden, I doubt that he has much common ground with the protesters, or that they will find the group’s “concrete proposals” to their liking.